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Monday, April 04, 2005

Debut Performance Goes Smoothly

Wow, that was both easier and harder than I thought. The hardest part of hosting a show is just how fast it goes. The clock winds down fast. Try limiting an intense, interesting phone conversation to 9:30 (my longest segment) and you'll get an idea of what I’m talking about.

My greatest sadness is that my first episode wasn’t recorded. But starting next week, they’ll be archived.

My guests were Larry Klayman, the founder and former General Counsel for Judicial Watch and Ed Brayton, blogger and debate coach who hosts a popular blog “Dispatches from the Culture War.” Our topic was the Terri Schiavo case – specifically its long-term implications.

Brayton, who argued that the outcome of Terri’s case was correct, was well-prepared and forensically strong. I think Mr. Klayman, who was primarily upset with Jeb Bush’s failure to intervene and rescue Terri, is used to shorter interviews because after his four or five-bullet point initial statement he crumbled into almost entirely ad hominem arguments. He called one set of judges morons, his opposing guest an idiot (but then quickly corrected himself, and said he meant to say his ideas were idiocy), and so on. The most interesting moment in the show is when the conservative Republican lawyer said, “I don’t care what Justice Scalia thinks, he’s an intellectual lightweight… one of my least favorite Justices.”

Most of the show focused on the role of the Courts. Klayman tried to dodge a question about state sovereignty and federalism, but ultimately conceded that he has little regard for such things when he insisted on the justification that, “Congress does stuff all the time.”

Brayton handled my two toughest questions for him, but I wasn’t finished with him. There were several things I wanted to ask. He was so confident and forceful he managed to keep Klayman on the defensive the whole time, and I didn’t have enough time to ask him the remaining questions I have.

I still believe starving Terri was nothing short of barbaric. And I would’ve loved to ask Ed if Michael Schiavo’s attorney is mentally ill? After all, he looked at Terri and said she was “peaceful” (a potential statement of fact) and “beautiful.”

Beautiful? Someone is starving, their eyes are dark and sunken, their lips are bleeding, and their skin is flaking from dehydration, and you say they look “beautiful?” Sounds to me like Felos is disgustingly infatuated with death.

Alas, we ran out of time.

You can read Ed Brayton’s opinion of how he thought the show went here. If Larry Klayman ever writes about it, and I find out, I’ll link to that as well. But I’m guessing Larry would prefer to forget.